A New Approach to Closing the Digital Divide: Direct Giving

Where communities cannot access the basic elements of a healthy and prosperous life, technological solutions that eliminate or, at least, substantially reduce the transaction costs of reallocating capital from the “haves” to the “have nots” should be implemented. These solutions need not come from an establish tech company or even a startup, something as lean as a nonprofit can make this sort of solution tenable and effective. We need a direct giving platform for donors to cover people’s broadband bills, including upgrades to higher-speed services. Covering these bills will ensure that service is maintained throughout the school year, for example. Covering upgrades will give families the uploads and download speeds required to let kids learn, parents upskill, and grandparents hop on Zoom—all essential activities to combat the Homework Gap, unemployment, and social isolation, respectively. That’s why I’m looking for any and all help to build No One Left Offline—a crowdsourced approach to providing access to high-speed Internet.

[Kevin Frazier is pursuing a Masters of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a J.D. at the UC Berkeley School of Law. He's the founder of No One Left Offline. Send him any feedback @kevintfrazier]